Lamp-candle



(No Model.)

F. F. SCHMITT.

LAMP GANDLE.`

No. 370,562. Patented Sept. 2,7, 1887.

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UNITED STATES PATENT FELIX F. SCHMITT, or CHICAGO, ILLINC` j.

SPECIFICATON forming part of Letters Patent No. 370.562, dated September 27, 1887.

erm-:asiat: am Api-i1 s, 18m.

4 a part of this specification.

This invention relates to an improvement in candles, having reference more particularly to the construction of the wicks thereof.

My invention is more especially intended for application to that class of candles which.

.are relatively short and of large diameter, and which are used in connection with a deep vessel or holder, as common, for instance, in the so-called Fairy lamps;77 but the invention may be applied to candles usedfor other purposes, as will hereinafter appear.

The invention consists in the matters hereinafter described, and pointed out in the appended claim.

' My invention consists in a candle wick which is provided with a stiffening strip or wire intertwined or interwoven with or wrapped about the fibrous portion of the wick insuch manner as to sustain the wick rigidly in a vertical position and to prevent the wick from curling over or falling after the body of the candle has been melted away to expose l the candle is liable to becovne'entrcl the same, said wick being attached at it lower end to a supporting piece or plate lo cated at the lower end of the candle and flush with the bottom surface thereof', so that after all of the body of the candlel has been melted away the wick will remain vertical and in position for burning until all of the melted ma terial of the candle has been consumed. This construction is especially valuable in the use of short candles of large diameter, such as are placed for burning in vessels or receptacles, for the reason that in such case the body of melted some time before it is consumed, and the wick would fall and become extinguished unless some means other than the body ofthe candle itself is provided for holding the wick vertical.

The invention may be more readily understood by reference to the accompanying drawings, in whichM Serial No. 214,123. (No modela)` I Figure 1 is a central vertical section through a candle constructed in accordance with my invention and a holder therefor. Fig. 2 i s a view of the wick and supporting-piece attached thereto separate from the candle itself. Fig. 3 illustrates another construction in the wick.

As illustrated in the said drawings, A is the body of the candle; B, the wick; C, a supporting piece or plate at thebottom of the candle, to which the wick is attached, and D a vessel, receptacle, or holder in which the candle is placed while being burned. As herein shown the candle is very large in diameter in proportion to its height, and is placed in the receptacle or holder D, which is fully as deep as the candle itself, and which serves to hold the melted paraftine or other material from the top of the candle until the same is consumed in a well-known manner. The wick B, as shown in Fig. l, consists of a brous portion, b, similar to the wicks ordinarily used, together with a stiff or rigid strand, b', which is twisted with the strands of the wick, or wrapped about the wick, so as to stiften the latter. The said strand b consists of a metal strip or wire, or a strip or filament of any other material which is sufficiently stiff for the purpose.

The supportingpiece C is embedded in the lower cnd or surface of the candle, so that the latter may rest in contact with the flat bottom of the holder or receptacle. Said piece C is flat on its under surface, and may be made of metal, plaster-of-paris, or other suitable maf terial, As herein shown it consists of apiece of sheet metal provided with a central aperture, through which the end of the wick is inserted and held by compressing the edges of the aperture against the wick.

In Fig. 2 is shown another form of the wick, consisting of twisted strands of brous ma terial, b, and a wire, b3, placed spirally about the main part b of thewick. Fig. 3 shows still another construction lof the wiolr, in which the main part of the latter consists of strands b" of fibrous material braided `with each other and with a wire, b5.

In the use of a wiel/r which is without any base-piece or supporting-plate at its lower end arranged to rest upon the bottom of the holder or receptacle in the manner described, and in IOO which the wick is Without any stiffening strip or strand, the Wiclcwill be limp and unsupported when the flame reaches the lower part of the holder or receptacle D, and Will be liable at such time to curl yover or fall into the fluid material, and thereby cause the extinguishment of' the fiame at a time when a considerable quantity of the unconsumed material still Y remains in the holder.

In the burning` of a candleprovided with a stiffened Wick and having a base-piece to which the wick is rigidly attached in the manner herein described, the wick will stand vertical and will be supported rigidly in an upright position, notwithstanding the melting ofall of the body of the candle, so that a uniform flame will be maintained until all of the material originally composed in the candle-body has been consumed.

I am aware that it has heretofore been proposed to make a candle Wholly or partially of asbestus ber and that it has been proposed, also, to employ in a tubular wick stiffening filaments or strands of soft metal. I am not, however, aware that a candle has ever heretofore been provided with a stiffened wick and with a supporting-piece in its bottom surface to which the wick is rigidly attached in the manner herein shown and above described.

For the general purposes of my invention the stiffening strip or Wire ofthe wick may be of any suitable size; but preferably they will be made of ne'wire, so that it may be easily cut by the scissors in trimming the Wick. When the Wick is made of such fine Wire, I have found that it will commonly become oxidized and consumed in the flame as the wick burns away, so that necessity for cutting of the wire as the wick burns away is avoided.

I claim as my invention-l A candle provided with a Wick containing a stiffening strip or Wire and with a supporting-piece to which the wick is rigidly attached, said supporting'pieee being embedded in the lowerl end of the candle flush with the bottom surface thereof, CM tantially as described.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my invention affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

FELIX F. SCHMITT.

XVitnesses:

C. CLARENCE POOLE, CHARLES T. LoRING. 

